The Immigrants

A story of love, dreams, exile and tragedy, told with heartbreaking beauty

‘Although if they are asked before they die, they all say they came here for a better life, they do not always find a better life, do they?’

In the Victorian town of Mitrefò, tobacco is grown, an Italian cinema and café open, and people travel back and forth from Italy. A boy fishes, wanders the countryside and watches a community form, with its joys, scandals and shared understandings. Interspersed are the ‘grotesques’ – indelible and terrible events that sit alongside the better future they all seek.

In The Immigrants, Moreno Giovannoni depicts a family as they build a new life in a strange land. Through love and exile, industry and tragedy, their unspoken dreams and fears unfold in this astonishing and moving book.

Shortlisted for the Fiction Prize in the 2026 Victorian Premier's Literary Awards

Praise for The Immigrants:

'This book is written with such tenderness and clarity, you'll be instantly drawn into the suffering and joy of these lives.' —The Guardian

'This delicious autobiographical novel about Italian migrants in Victoria's tobacco-growing country starts, quite literally, with a bang and charms with its large cast of distinct characters, tender wit and sensitivity.'—The Age

'Giovannoni writes about his subjects with such care, tenderness, and gentle humour … The Immigrants, a compelling, emotionally rich work, offers a poetic and at times moving treatment of a little-known part of Australian history.'—Australian Book Review

'A masterful piece of literature that captures the reality of immigration to Australia for many Italians. It presents all its convoluted dynamics, emotions and consequences of displacement, identity, loss- and hope.'—Il Globo

Praise for The Fireflies of Autumn:

‘I can't remember ever reading anything quite like it. It thrilled me, and made me laugh, and moved me very deeply.’ —Helen Garner

‘There is immense beauty in this book, and there is great sadness and there is genuine tenderness. I can’t recall when I was last thrilled by a book as I am by this one.’ —Christos Tsiolkas

‘I have never read a migrant tale so original, so breathtaking in scope, or so magical.’ —Alice Pung